This application is related to and claims priority from Japanese Patent Application No. 2001-056548, filed Mar. 1, 2001, the disclosure of which is incorporated herein by reference.
The present invention relates to monitoring positions of moving objects and, more particularly, to methods and systems for reporting the positions of one or more moving bodies for managing the position data of the moving bodies.
In the field of transport, e.g., delivery vehicles, shipping trucks, taxis, and rail buses, there is a need to operate and manage a large number of vehicles efficiently and accurately. To determine the operation status of various types of moving bodies such as automobiles, various technologies for combining a measuring technology that uses a GPS (Global Positioning System) and a wireless communication technology to automatically collect and monitor the positions of the moving bodies at a control center have been developed. For example, in Japanese laid-open patent publication number 2000-285389, a technology is disclosed wherein when a vehicle equipped with a mobile terminal reaches a checkpoint, the current position of the vehicle is reported to the control center.
However, simply reporting the vehicle position only when a checkpoint is reached is inadequate for efficiently managing vehicles. For example, if a shipping truck is headed toward a loading site that is a checkpoint, the current position would be reported to the control center when the loading site is reached. Inventory operations and preparations for loading would begin after arrival, which may result in an unnecessarily long waiting period at the loading site for the shipping truck. The accumulation of these unnecessary waiting times results in a significant loss of efficiency per delivery truck per day. This loss of efficiency is extremely large when the overall operation of a large number of delivery trucks over a year is considered.
In order to overcome this problem, the vehicle position can be reported at fixed intervals, thus allowing the control center to inform the loading site ahead of time regarding the arrival of the shipping trucks. However, reporting vehicle positions at fixed intervals results in an extremely large number of reports. When a large number of shipping trucks are being operated, the communication costs become very high and render such an approach impractical.
Embodiments of the present invention are directed to a technology for reporting vehicle positions at appropriate times to a control center without unnecessarily increasing communication costs.
An aspect of the present invention is directed to a mobile system to be installed in a vehicle monitored by a vehicle position management system having a detection device configured to detect a position of the vehicle. The mobile system comprises a storage module configured to store a plurality of checkpoints associated with a planned route of the vehicle. An evaluation module is configured to evaluate whether or not a vehicle position obtained from the detection device of the vehicle position management system is within a predetermined distance range organized as a plurality of stages from the checkpoint. An output module is configured to generate and output a signal based on evaluation by the evaluation module to provide wireless reporting of the vehicle position to a control center of the vehicle position management system when the vehicle position enters the distance range of one of the stages.
In some embodiments, the output module is configured to generate and output a signal, if the evaluation module indicates that the vehicle position is outside the predetermined distance range, to provide wireless reporting of the vehicle position to the control center of the vehicle position management system at predetermined time intervals. The storage module is configured to receive from the control center operations settings data containing the planned route and the checkpoints and to store the operations settings data, when the output module generates and outputs the signal to provide wireless reporting of the vehicle position to the control center.
Another aspect of the invention is directed to a mobile system to be installed in a vehicle monitored by a vehicle position management system having a detection device configured to detect a position of the vehicle. The mobile system comprises a storage module configured to store a plurality of checkpoints associated with a planned route of the vehicle. An evaluation module is configured to evaluate whether or not a vehicle position obtained from the detection device of the vehicle position management system is within a predetermined distance range organized as a plurality of stages from the checkpoint. An output module is configured to generate and output a signal, if the evaluation module indicates that the vehicle position is outside the predetermined distance range, to provide wireless reporting of the vehicle position to the control center of the vehicle position management system at predetermined time intervals.
In some embodiments, the output module is configured to generate and output a signal based on evaluation by the evaluation module to provide wireless reporting of the vehicle position to a control center of the vehicle position management system when the vehicle position enters the distance range of one of the stages. The storage module is configured to receive from the control center operations settings data containing the planned route and the checkpoints and to store the operations settings data, when the output module generates and outputs the signal to provide wireless reporting of the vehicle position to the control center.
In accordance with another aspect of the invention, a vehicle position management system comprises a detection device configured to detect a position of the vehicle, a mobile system, and a vehicle position control system. The mobile system includes a mobile system storage module configured to store a plurality of checkpoints associated with a planned route of the vehicle; an evaluation module configured to evaluate whether or not a vehicle position obtained from the detection device of the vehicle position management system is within a predetermined distance range organized as a plurality of stages from the checkpoint; and a mobile system output module configured to generate and output a signal based on evaluation by the evaluation module to provide wireless reporting of the vehicle position when the vehicle position enters the distance range of one of the stages. The vehicle position control system includes a control system storage module configured to store operations settings data including the planned route of the vehicle and the plurality of checkpoints associated with the planned route; a monitoring module configured to detect when the output module generates and outputs the signal to provide wireless reporting of the vehicle position; and a control system output module configured to read and wirelessly send the planned route and the operations settings data to the mobile system when the output module generates and outputs the signal to provide wireless reporting of the vehicle position as detected by the monitoring module.
In accordance with another aspect of the present invention, a method for managing vehicles comprises detecting a position of a vehicle being managed, and evaluating whether or not the detected vehicle position of the vehicle is within a predetermined distance range organized as a plurality of stages from one of a plurality of checkpoints associated with a planned route of the vehicle. The vehicle position is wirelessly reported to a control center when the vehicle position enters the distance range of one of the stages.
In some embodiments, the method further comprises wirelessly reporting the vehicle position to a control center at predetermined time intervals, if the evaluated vehicle position is outside the predetermined distance range. The method may further comprise wirelessly receiving from the control center operations settings data containing the planned route and the checkpoints and storing the operations settings data, when the output module generates and outputs the signal to provide wireless reporting of the vehicle position to the control center.
In accordance with another aspect of the invention, a method for managing vehicles comprises detecting a position of a vehicle being managed; evaluating whether or not the detected vehicle position of the vehicle is within a predetermined distance range organized as a plurality of stages from one of a plurality of checkpoints associated with a planned route of the vehicle; and wirelessly reporting the vehicle position to a control center at predetermined time intervals, if the evaluated vehicle position is outside the predetermined distance range.
Another aspect of the invention is directed to a computer program product stored on a computer readable medium for managing vehicles. The computer program product comprises code for detecting a position of a vehicle being managed; code for evaluating whether or not the detected vehicle position of the vehicle is within a predetermined distance range organized as a plurality of stages from one of a plurality of checkpoints associated with a planned route of the vehicle; and code for wirelessly reporting the vehicle position to a control center when the vehicle position enters the distance range of one of the stages.
In some embodiments, the computer program product further comprising code for wirelessly reporting the vehicle position to a control center at predetermined time intervals, if the evaluated vehicle position is outside the predetermined distance range. The computer program product may further comprise code for wirelessly receiving from the control center operations settings data containing the planned route and the checkpoints and storing the operations settings data, when the output module generates and outputs the signal to provide wireless reporting of the vehicle position to the control center.